


Subtle Magic

by inkheart9459



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Cat's the witch, F/F, Kara is still Supergirl, There's some talk of major injury but it's not ridiculously graphic, Witch AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-18 03:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15476175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkheart9459/pseuds/inkheart9459
Summary: In the middle of a battle for Earth Cat sees Kara fall on her TV screen right away. She waits for the DEO to notice, but in a battle for life and death no one can be spared to tend to the fallen hero. Cat knows Kara is holding on by the thinnest thread and decides to come to her aide using powers only a few living souls know about.





	Subtle Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NamiWave](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamiWave/gifts).



> Hi! So I hope you like your gift. Ironically one of the prompts I submitted was also a witch AU so I felt it was fate to write this lol. Hope it's everything you wanted and all that *confetti*

Cat breathed in the night air and sighed. National City was her home, and had been for too many years to count now, but there was just something to be said about being in the mountains around the city. The air was fresher here and the magic more earthy. It didn’t have the hard edge that the magic of the city did. It was a good place for this ritual. Gentle magic made for a better healing spell.

She glanced back to the pallet that was floating behind her. Kara was spread out on the stark white fabric in her torn Supergirl regalia, covered in bruises and scratches, bleeding sluggishly from open wounds. She was alive still, but only just. She was sure whatever shadowy organization that the girl worked with had some way to heal her, but they had had other problems to deal with and Kara had needed healing then. Cat could see it, even in the scant detail of her television screen. 

For a witch of her age, and no one alive truly knew her age, and if she had her way no one would, it was easy for her to appear at the edges of the battlefield, overrun with aliens set on ending the world as they knew it and the agents fighting to hold them at bay. It had only taken a thought. Another thought to summon Kara to her, and one last one to transport them to this forrest. 

If she had a different type of magic she would have stayed and fought. A witch of her calibre with combat magic could send those alien imbeciles packing with one of the power words, but Cat’s magic was a more subtle thing. Illusion, manipulation, a flash of mind reading when the time was right, if she prepared extensively she could influence world events, but perhaps the one ability she used the most often was healing. Having a little boy meant that she’d healed her fair share of cuts and scrapes, taken away the pain with a bit of compulsion mixed in so he didn’t casually mention what his mother could do when he was little. Now...now she could see the beginnings of the sparks within her younger son. After this fiasco perhaps it was time to start training him. He’d be beyond excited after all the years of watching his mother perform small acts, floating a cup of coffee, conjuring bubbles that left no sticky residue, and a thousand other things. 

But seeing Kara fall, truly fall, to be on death’s door...Carter needed to be able to defend himself in a world that kept almost ending every time Mercury went into retrograde. 

They reached the clearing Cat wanted and she stopped and stepped aside, sending Kara to the middle of the circular space. She willed the clouds away, hoping that she remembered enough to do so. Weather magic was a thing she had only studied passingly after it was clear her talents laid elsewhere, but all witches had some ability. Their power came from the Earth around them, of course they could all do  _ something _ .

The clouds obeyed her, bathing the clearing in the silver light of the nearly full moon. It was good fortune that this fight hadn’t taken place a few days later. Healing spells waxed and waned in effectiveness with the moon and Kara needed as much healing as was possible.

“Goddess grant me strength,” Cat whispered as she summoned what she needed from her home. She lowered Kara gently to the ground and opened herself up to the world around her. Magic hit her full force and she gasped. No matter how many times she did this it still took her breath away just how full the world was of power unseen. If only ordinary humans could feel this perhaps…

Cat shook her head. No. If they knew it would be used just like everything else. It would cease to be special. 

She opened her eyes again, the trees around her shimmering now, a spark of power in every leaf, roots like laylines under the soil. She slipped off her shoes and stood barefoot on the ground. Power flowed through her and it took an enormous amount of effort just to hold onto her sense of self. She could not lose herself in the world now. Kara needed her, but she also needed enough power to heal a god. How much power that was, Cat didn’t know, but healing on this scale was never a small feat.

She took out a match and lit it, throwing it in the large stone bowl full of sage, thyme, lavender, echinacea, elderberry, and ginseng. The fire caught quickly and smoke rose from the mix, scenting the air around her. Let the Earth take back what was once its own to boost her power and to keep any bad energy away from Kara in this fragile state.

Cat looked up at the moon and took one deep breath before pulling power from inside herself and directing it towards her hands. It was easy when she was so in tune like this. There were always trade offs with magic. Open yourself up and you were the most powerful you could be, but it was easy to lose yourself in the process. She felt the glow around her hands before she could see it. It brightened, though, slowly until her hands were glowing a pale silver not much different than the moonlight soaking into the soil around them. This would do.

She placed her hands on Kara, starting at the worst wound, a gouge in her chest that exposed flesh and bone and if you looked deep enough the pulsing of an alien heart. The silver flowed from her hands and coated the wound slowly, like otherworldly honey. Slowly, so slowly that Cat knew that there had to be internal injuries along with the external, the flesh started to rebuild itself. Cat felt herself draining as Kara’s wound healed. Magic was infinite, but her ability to channel it wasn’t. At some point she was going to have to stop or she would just cease to exist. The Earth was the only one would could be all powerful. If anyone tried to rival her, it took back the life it gave. It was simple as that.

But she wasn’t at the breaking point just yet.

She pushed on, watching as the wound finally knitted together, leaving fresh pink skin. The relief was palpable around her as she took a few unsteady breaths. There was so much more to go, but that wound had been the closest to a mortal wound Kara had received. She moved up Kara’s body until she could reach the other woman’s head and laid her hands and a deep cut there. She could feel the bloom of a moderate concussion and a very slow leak in an artery. Even a Kryptonian with an injury like that had to be ticking time bomb until their bodies had the resources to deal with such an insidiously small wound. 

Cat poured more of herself into Kara. Head wounds were the most taxing to heal, but if she got through this, Kara would be ok. She closed her eyes and watched as the mental picture she had of Kara’s brain slowly knitted itself back together. The artery sealed itself, the bruised parts of her brain cleared of injured tissue. Her breaths came hard but she pushed on. The blood had to reabsorb or Kara would still be disoriented when she woke. It might push on other parts of her brain and who knew how that would affect Kara. Sweat rolled off of her, droplets soaking the ground, sparking brightly enough that she could see behind her eyelids as the concentrated magic was reabsorbed again.

She could feel herself slipping. Her grip on her mind was slipping. It felt like she was hanging above an abyss by just her fingers. Eventually she would slip and fall, but for now she had strength left. Only a little more. Just a little more and Kara would be better. Kara could heal on her own. She’d seen the girl heal from minor injuries in an instant. After this the only things that would be left were almost superficial in comparison to the ones that Cat had healed. She just had to hold on. Supergirl held on for the world time and time again. Cat could do it this one time for the girl of steel.

A scream rent from her as her body protested. Her survival instinct was screaming at her to let go, of what it wasn’t really certain. She could let go of herself and the suffering would stop. She could let go of the magic and the suffering would stop. Either would end it all and that’s all her body truly wanted. But she hadn’t lived for as long as she had by just giving up.

“Kara!” she called out as finally, that last bit of blood dissipated. Cat let go of her grip on the magic, let the world return to its natural order. The ground rushed up to greet her and Cat had a fleeting thought that she was glad she hadn’t been standing before she landed in the grass. Everything in her itched at being down in the dirt, but she was so drained there was nothing that she could do about it. She had gotten over her own compulsions well enough to be a witch long ago, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t still bothered in a small part of her mind. It just meant that she could deal with them. And for now she would have to deal. It wasn’t like she was getting up anytime soon.

She closed her eyes and exhaustion curled around her and drug her under quickly and efficiently. The last thing she heard was Kara breathing, much deeper and steadier now than before and Cat relaxed into sleep. Kara would be fine now. Kara would be fine. 

 

\---

 

When Cat woke again the moon was lower in the sky, but it wasn’t morning yet. Maybe an hour or two had passed. She pushed herself up off the dirt, groaning at the effort. Her muscles felt like jelly and her mind wasn’t much better. She was physically and mentally exhausted. She had no idea how she was getting home from here. There was no way she could teleport herself now. She wasn’t even sure she could walk considering sitting up was taking everything in her.

She looked over at Kara, still lying on the grass, unmoving except for the rise and fall of her chest. Cat thought she should have woken up by now with the worst of her injuries healed. Had she missed something? If she had, what could she do? She was drained. She could feel the magic around her, but tapping into it was out of the question. The strands of silver almost went out of their way to avoid her, the Earth’s subtle warning that she should go no further.

Her gaze fell to the ground as she curled to set her chin on her knee. Her head was almost too heavy to hold up. She snapped upright a second later, though. Around Kara the ground was sparkling with little veins of silver all leading right to the superhero. She saw the little flickers as the magic jumped to Kara’s skin and sunk in. Cat looked Kara over and saw that the cuts she knew had still been there when she had passed out before were much healed from before. The Earth was healing Kara. It had taken up where Cat had left off, using the reserves from the forest around them and making the hero completely whole.

At least that explained why Kara wasn’t awake yet. Most people were put to sleep by healing magic and kept asleep. It was easier to heal in a restful state than it was awake.

Cat closed her eyes again and turned to where she knew the moon to be. She always felt where it was in the night sky like some sort of sixth sense. “Thank you,” she whispered. A gust of wind caressed her and she knew the Goddess had heard. She knew then one thing with every cell in her body, Kara was not of this Earth, but she had chosen this place as her home and the Earth had chosen her in turn. She was the protector of the planet, and here in this clearing where magic was thick and gentle the planet was giving back what it could.

She sat a silent vigil as Kara continued healing. Hours ticked by, the moon set, and the horizon started to lighten from black to midnight to deep blue to the pale grey of early morning. Cat watched as the silver light faded bit by bit until everything was as it was before. Kara had no more wounds. Everything was healed. She really would be ok. Cat breathed out a sigh of relief so strong she felt herself almost pushed backwards. She really didn’t have the strength to fight it, but she didn’t go down. A gust of warmth around her and she was sitting as she had been before.

A few minutes later Kara stirred, opening her eyes and yawning. She looked around and scowled in confusion.She sat up too quick to follow, head whipping side to side for a few seconds, but she stopped when her eyes fell on Cat.

“Miss Grant?” Kara asked, so very confused.

“Good morning. Good of you to join the world again.” Her voice was rough, too quiet to be heard by anyone more than a few feet away or by those with super hearing. 

“How did we get out here? Last thing I remember I--” she cut off and shivered.

“You were being struck down by something that looked like a sapient tapeworm, yes, I saw the coverage. That’s why I came to find you. There was too much happening for your little black ops buddies to notice you had gone down. I waited for a minute for them to respond, but you were too bad off to wait any longer than that.”

Kara tilted her head. “But you were miles away. I know you were. I listened to make sure you were nowhere near us.”

Something in Cat clenched at that. Kara checked on her to make sure she was safe. Even going to war this woman in front of her cared so very much. “I was miles away, but I find that’s not really an obstacle to me when I want to be somewhere.”

“But there was no way you could have gotten there. I know there was perimeter set up to keep it contained as possible. There was no way anyone would have let you through.”

“They never saw me.” Cat looked at Kara and weighed her options. Here was a woman who had her own secrets, who tried to keep them from those closest to her, tried to keep them from everyone, but was so very bad at it. At least superficially. Cat had no doubt that there were secrets Kara had that hadn’t seen the light of the yellow sun and probably never would. This was a woman of dualities. If there was anyone on this Earth that she could trust with her own secret it was Kara.

“I teleported to the edge of the battlefield, pulled you to me, and transported us both here. I wasn’t in the danger zone for longer than a minute at the maximum.”

Kara blinked at that, trying to work through all of that and what she knew of Cat after working for her for years. “But you aren’t an alien? Are you?”

Cat shook her head. “No, I’m not.” She laughed, a tired sound, but still content somehow. “There are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in science.”

Kara stayed silent, obviously wanting Cat to go on.

“I’m a witch. I have been for longer than anyone on this planet save other witches. We tend to live a great deal longer than your average human.”

Kara sat back slightly. “Wait, but?”

“I’m not exactly what you thinking of when you think witch? None of us really are. Years and years before even I was born other witches came up with some of the stereotypes as a joke, others regular humans came up with themselves.” She shrugged. “You of all people should know that people don’t always see what’s in front of them, Kara.”

Kara didn’t even put up a fight to being named now. “So you’re a witch. Witches exist. And they live a long time. Ok. What can you do?”

“Depends on the witch.” She glanced off towards the horizon. She had no idea if the battle was still raging, but if it was they would sorely need Kara by now. “But there are limits. I think that’s all you really need to know for now. I can tell you more when there is more time.”

Fear crept into Kara’s eyes. “Do you know if Alex was hurt?”

Cat shook her head. “I only saw you fall. The cameras follow you, not your agent cohorts.”

Kara pushed to her feet. “I need to--”

Cat cut her off. “Go, Supergirl, save the world.”

She looked back down at Cat. “Can you get back yourself? You look exhausted? What is it that you did?”

“I healed you. It took almost all of my energy, but I’ll be fine. The world, however, will not be if whatever those things are win. Go. The Earth will take care of me for the time being.”

Kara read between the lines and scooped up Cat in her arms. “The penthouse?”

“Kara, I don’t--”

Kara pushed up off the ground and they were flying a second later. Cat tucked her head into Kara’s neck. She wasn’t exactly fond of heights either.

“I’m taking that answer as a yes, by the way.” Kara spoke right next to Cat’s ear to be heard over the rush of the wind.

“Stubborn idiot,” Cat sniped back.

“I could say the same to you, Miss Grant.”

“Cat,” she said. “I think spending the night together in the forest and working various magics qualifies us for a first name basis.”

“When this is done you’re going to have to tell me just what it was you did. I was almost dead. I felt it, I felt myself slipping and then I just...wasn’t.”

“It wasn’t exactly easy to bring you back.” She snuggled closer to Kara. The clothes she had worn weren’t rated for severe wind chills, or even a chill period, such was a wardrobe build for Southern California.

They flew in silence for a minute before Kara’s words came slowly. “Cat, if I was almost dead, did you, were you.” She stopped for a second, thinking through the words. “Just how close did you come to dying yourself?”

“I know my limits, Kara.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“It’s the one you’re getting.”

Kara huffed but didn’t push the issue.

Another minute and they were on Cat’s bedroom balcony. Around them the sky lightened as the sun started to rise in earnest, coloring the air around them purple and pink and orange. Kara set her down gently, waiting to see if Cat could support her own weight. She only could through sheer will and the knowledge that her bed was steps away. When she passed out she knew she wouldn’t wake up until this crisis was well and truly over or if it all went badly, she might never wake from the practically comatose state she went into after using far, far too much magic. 

“How many times have you done this?” Kara asked. “Being the hero behind the scenes?”

“There may have been a few times here and there, but for the most part, I’m a very different kind of hero. That side you are already very aware of.” Cat reached up, almost on a whim, and cupped Kara’s face. “Just like you’re a hero in this cape and also in those god awful cardigans, two sides of the same coin.”

Kara leaned down until their faces were almost touching. “For luck?”

“And as a thank you?”

Kara laughed quietly. “Yeah, that too.”

Cat pushed herself up to close that last bit of distance. Kara’s lips were soft and warm and so very alive. She felt the sparks between them explode, energy combining in ways that Cat had never felt before. Was it because Kara was an alien or because of something between the two of them? Goddess knew she felt closer to Kara now than ever before after healing her, but she hadn’t thought that weird considering. And there had always been a few sparks here and there but this was...more. That was the only word she had for it.

She pulled back after a second, afraid if she didn’t then she would never do so. “Go, Kara, make sure the world is safe. And for the love of the Goddess, don’t get hurt again. You’re on your own if you do.”

Kara kissed Cat on the forehead and then floated back over the railing of the balcony. “Somehow I doubt that.” And then she flew off again towards where the battle had been raging hours before. 

“Goddess help me,” Cat sighed. And she swore in that moment she heard laughter on the breeze that swept her hair into her face.


End file.
